Olivia's first Halloween

Several years ago Mike and I celebrated Halloween with 200+ of our closest friends at a huge party that went on all night long.  Tonight, we spent Halloween with a few friends and their kiddos and it was the best Halloween ever!  We went to Rex and Angie's house and sat outside with the kids and passed out candy to the trick or treaters.  Angie LOVES Halloween, decorations, pumpkins, witches, etc, so our house was pretty popular.  Olivia was the cutest pink poodle the world has ever seen.  Mike and I saw the fuzzy pink costume long before we laid eyes on our daughter (they put Halloween stuff out so early these days) but just knew that it had to be her first costume.  We bought it several weeks ago and I diligently washed it so that it wouldn't bother her sensitive skin and it sat in her closet coming out only to be shown off until today.  Mom came over to spend the afternoon with me and Olivia today so we put it on for a trial run.  She looked super cute but was not thrilled about putting it on and I thought for sure we were in for a fussy baby this evening.  Quite the opposite.  She let me put the costume on, she let us take pictures, she was the cutest little poodle on the planet for quite a while until she got hot and a little hungry and we settled for Halloween outfit #2 which was pretty cute as well.  We stayed for a few hours and then took our little poodle mouse home for bath time.  What a wonderful night.

This is my friend Miles, he's a skunk!

I am SO cute.  My Mommy's costume was lame, she just got a poncho out of the costume box and called it a day.

Miles and his mom Angie and Sonnie and her mom Leigh.  Miles is such a ham!

Mommy's costume was lame but Daddy's sure wasn't!  He didn't scare me though, I recognized his voice.

Is that not the cutest face you have ever seen?!

This is my Halloween outfit #2.  My Mommy loves that silly pumpkin hat . . . I hope it doesn't fit me next year.

Wordless Wednesday

Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend while Karen was here we met Angie, Miles, Leigh and Sonnie at a pumpkin patch close to the house.  It was a beautiful, festive day and while Olivia certainly looked the part, she was not thrilled about her first pumpkin patch experience.  Oh well, I guess there is always next year.  We got some great pictures of Miles and Sonnie though!

Miles and Sonnie in one of the wagons provided in the pumpkin patch.

Karen pushing Olivia around.

I was peacefully sleeping . . .

 . . . until Mommy pulled me out of my stroller and put this stupid hat on me.

My friend Miles is such a ham.

Angie and Miles, so photogenic.

Sonnie isn't quite sure about this pumpkin patch thing . . .

. . . but she sure takes a cute picture with her Mom.

Mommy's little pumpkin.

I'm not loving this pumpkin patch thing Aunt Karen.

The Mommies with their babies.  Miles is telling Olivia "it's OK Olivia, the pumpkin patch is fun!"

Ridiculous hat #2, really Mom?

Get this pumpkin out of my stroller and get me outta here. 

We'll try the pumpkin patch again next year :-)

Game Day

Another Saturday, another Texas football game . . .

Mommy, how come the Longhorns aren't winning?  I put my game day jersey on and everything!

Oh, forget it!  I can't watch the beating Texas is taking anymore, nap time.

Aunt Karen's Visit

Mike's sister Karen came to Austin last weekend to meet her niece and Goddaughter for the first time.  It was awesome to have her here!  We went on walks, took Olivia out and about, and just sat around and talked.  It was really nice to have someone sit with me in the evenings who talks back to me when I talk to her - no offense Olivia mouse.  She and Olivia LOVED playing together, it was great to see the interaction.  It was also great for me to be able to pump whenever I needed to and get some work done around the house listening to my sweet baby laugh with her Aunt Karen.  My 10 year high school reunion was last weekend and Karen kept the mouse when we headed out to the lake.  It was very hard for me to leave Olivia for the first time but I knew that she was in excellent hands with Aunt Karen.  I'm sure she thought I was nuts "preparing" her for her evening with Olivia.  On Thursday and Friday went went through all the steps of bath time.  I probably showed her 10 times where Olivia's jammies, burp clothes, blankets, etc were.  I made sure that she knew how to work the sleep sheep and monitors and left the thermometers out for her.  I made all the night time bottles, left directions to the closest hospital AND Dell Childrens, her pediatricians name and number and the number to Med Link.  It took me longer to "prepare" Karen to look after the mouse than it took me to get ready to go!  Thankfully Karen, who is a very smart girl and perfectly capable of taking care of my baby, was very patient with my obsessiveness.  We had such an amazing time having her here, I just wish the trip was longer.  Of course we took a few pictures.

Aunt Karen and I were playing and I just passed out!  Here I am smiling in my sleep with my Mommy's snuggie. 

As you can see, Machaya wants to get in the snuggie as well.

I'm still trying to figure out if I'm going to let my Mommy carry me around in this sling.

I'm so good at helping Aunt Karen with her emails.

Mommy and Aunt Karen took me for a morning walk, here we go with the hats again.

Aunt Karen is so comfy to snuggle with.

On Sunday we went to Granny and Paw Paw's house so Aunt Karen could see The Compound.  Can you tell that Da Bears were playing that day?

We took Karen out to Carlos and Charlies so that she could see the lake.

I know I'm cute guys but enough with the pictures!

I guess one with Granny and Paw Paw is ok.

Aunt Karen thinks she's soooo funny.  At least cover up my diapy, so embarrassing!

One minute I was doing the dreaded "tummy time" and the next I was out.  First time that happened.

Big girl bed

Wow, have we been busy this week!  I looked at the calendar today and couldn't believe that it's the middle of October already, I'm just not sure where the time has gone.  We had a major milestone this week . . . Olivia is now sleeping in her big girl crib in her own room *insert tear from Mommy here*  We have been making noise about moving her into her own room for a couple of weeks now and each night I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  Mike finally put his foot down last weekend and said that it was time.  She is too big for her bassinet now and can't extend her arms all the way without hitting the sides.  She also is much more aware of the noises around her and startles much easier so you can imagine how Mike's snoring was taking a toll on her sleep!  As sad as I was that my baby was leaving my side, I do want her to be comfortable when she sleeps.  I only cried the first 2 nights that she was in her own room.  The very first night, I thought that if I cried enough, Mike would go and get her for me and let her sleep next to me again.  Didn't happen.  He told me a few days later that I didn't cry long enough for him to go get her . . . darn!  The first night that Mike was at work after the "big move", I thought about putting Olivia to bed in her bassinet next to me - nobody there to stop me right?  I resisted, I know that she is more comfortable in her big girl bed now.  Mike keeps mentioning that we need to sell the bassinet or at least put it up in the attic but I'm just not ready for that yet.  My baby girl's first bed still sits next to mine for now just minus the baby girl.  Our bedroom shares a wall with Olivia's but I still sleep with one ear listening for the littlest squeak on the baby monitor and go in and check on her frequently.  It gets easier every night to not have her next to me but it's still hard to wrap my mind around how very quickly she is growing up before I have time to blink. 

Where is the picture of Olivia in her big girl crib you ask?  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  You know that expression "don't poke a sleeping bear"?  Well we don't poke our sleeping mouse let alone have a camera double flash in her face.  Just go back in the blog archives and take a look at the pictures of her crib and then picture the mouse in there, that's what she looks like :-)

Pictures . . .

Cousin Jamie came to visit me last week so I got dressed up for her.

I had just finished me bed time bottle and now I'm out!

Really Mommy?!  Another ridiculous bow?

At least she took that bow off my head for nap time.

All loaded up for our morning walk.  You'll notice I'm STILL in my jammies - how embarrassing!

Another picture?

It's nap time.

Mommy's smiley baby.

All dressed up to go have lunch with Mommy's friend Caitlin.

Tucked in to Mommy and Daddy's bed with Chongo.

Olivia is laughing at herself in the mirror on her play mat.  She has eczema so I put lotion on her face several times a day which is why her face looks so shiny.

How's my hair?

Our first attempt with the sling now that Nicole showed us how to work it.  Olivia was not convinced.

Rockin the Michael Jackson look.

And we have a winner!

Ever since we brought little Olivia mouse home from the hospital, we have been trying to find something, ANYTHING that she would sit or lie in to give me free hands for a few minutes.  I kept telling her that the "golden milk" that she loves so much does not magically appear in her bottles, it has to be pumped out and Mommy can't pump if she is holding a baby!  You'll notice in all of these pictures that she doesn't look unhappy, the crying started shortly after the photo.  Here are some of our unsuccessful attempts . . .

First we tried the bouncy seat . . .

 . . . but Machaya was the only one who liked it.

Then there was the swing - way too squishy for this one.

We tried the boppy at Granny and Paw Paws . . .

 . . . and again at home.

Yeah, that didn't work out so well.

We even tried a blanket on the floor.

She will play on her play mat for a little bit . . .

 . . . and she'll sleep in her car seat for a while after we get home but neither the play mat or the car seat would give me more than about 10 minutes.

Drum roll please!

Introducing our new swing!  We stopped in to Once Upon a Child a few days ago and spotted this swing that cradles her similarly to her retired newborn napper and is therefore a nice, cushy place to take a nap.

I thought it might have been too good to be true at first, but it has worked multiple times now so I deem it a success.  Whew!

A few more pictures from the last week . . .

Here's me at Meagan and Craig's wedding.  I managed to stay awake for part of the ceremony.

Me and Mommy and Daddy after the ceremony, I'm in the stroller of course.

I'm going to be a pretty bride like Meagan one day.

I hung out with Lesley for a while, MIGHT have spit up on her but don't say anything!

New onesie courtesy of Tom and Kris, guess who picked this one out for me to wear.

 I wore this super cute outfit that Granny gave me to the Dr. today.  Mommy thought it was appropriate for October.